Wooing the moon
by whitefeatherchangestime
Summary: Gaara the school rebel has a major crush on the school sweetheart but can never seem to find the words to express his feelings. maybe an ancient fable may be able to help him. one-shot  just something i wrote when i was bored  Neji/Gaara rated T. AU


**Okay let me start by saying that i'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry for disappearing for so long but its my first year of sixth form and its been a little crazy. anywho i hope this one-shot helps to make up for things. i will go back to my chaptered fics i promise, but for now enjoy.**

**please read and review**

**disclaimer: unfortunately i own nothing, but someday SOMEDAY! (evil laugh)**

Gaara knew he was staring but he couldn't help it, what right did the gods have putting something that perfect, that beautiful on Earth. He knew it probably wasn't just to torment him but the red head was really beginning to take it personally.

the being in question was a certain Neji Huuga, the object of Gaara's affection, the person who, for the past two years, had caused said red-head to turn into a sad puddle of patheticness every time he so much as walked past him.

Neji of course was completely oblivious to Gaara's feelings, and the feelings of practically every other member of their school, and even if he did know what were the chances that he would feel the same way?

Gaara sighed as the school bell went and the dark haired angel packed up his belongings before rushing off to class. the red head had heard that many others had got up the courage to ask Neji out, but would you believe it, that delicate being had absolutely no idea why anyone would want to date him and simply thought that anyone who showed an interest was simply playing some kind of cruel joke on him.

The red head stood up, running a hand through his unruly locks and sighed again, he'd been doing that a lot lately, if Neji thought that ordinary people were playing tricks on him then he would no doubt expect worse from the school rebel, the boy who had set fire to the science lab just to get out having to go to his last lesson.

Gaara took a lazy stroll over to where Neji had been sitting, having noticed something beneath the bench. The boy bent to pick it up, it was a book, and raised an invisible eyebrow as he read the title. "The Moon and his lover?" WTF? was all that sprang to mind, Gaara flipped the book over to read the blurb. _The classic story of the moon spirit and the boy who loved him. _The red head frowned, if this was a classic then how come he'd never heard of it, not that he read all that often but still.

With a shrug he sat down and began to read, why not, he thought, i've got a free period (he didn't) and there are worse things to be wasting my time doing.

_The moon and his lover_

_Once there was a man who lived in a small village, many of the villagers thought that he was a very strange young man as he liked nothing better than to spend his nights staring up at the moon, no one could quite figure out what his fascination was but found it harmless enough and so left him to it._

_the villagers however were not the only ones to have noticed this unusual habit, the spirits, including the moon himself, were well aware of the man and were beginning to get suspicious. so one night when the moon was full the star spirits came down to the little village and took him._

"_Where are you taking me?" he demanded but he got no reply, instead the spirits only took him higher and higher until he was stood on the moon itself. "why have you bought me here?" he asked. but the star spirits had gone, retuning to their positions in the sky._

"_You have been bought here so that I may know why it is that you continually watch me."_

_The young man turned to see the most beautiful creature that he had ever seen._

Pale lilac eyes, dark chocolate brown hair, pale almost glowing skin, and a delicate frame that seemed to hide an unimaginable strength of will and character. Gaara shook his head, he was invading everything, this was just sad.

"_You must be the moon spirit, you are even more beautiful up close."_

_the spirit dropped its head for a moment before looking the man in the eye again. "Please answer my question."_

_The man smiled. "is it not natural for someone to want to continually watch the one he loves?"_

"_love?" the spirit was obviously surprised by this answer and suddenly seemed wary of the man. "how can you love a being you have not met?"_

_The man took a step towards the moon spirit. "how can you say that we have not met when I have watched you all of my life?" as he said this the man took hold of the spirits hand. but the spirit was still wary and so stepped away._

"_I have seen love but never have I felt it so how do I know that this is not a trick?"_

"_I will prove myself to you, I will earn your trust and your love."_

"_and how will you do that?"_

_The man was about to answer but suddenly the world went black. "Whats going on?" the man called into the darkness._

"_This is whats known as an eclipse." a voice answered. the young man looked around for the owner of the voice and came face to face with a very large and ominous spirit. "I am the spirit of darkness." it said, its voice booming and endless._

_despite the fear that was growing inside him the young man stood his ground. "where is the moon spirit?"_

"_I have taken him." the darkness answered, a triumphant smile on his face._

_The man took a step forward. "Why?" he demanded._

"_so that you may prove yourself to him, and to us." _

_the man looked puzzled. "why do I need to prove myself to anyone but him? he is the one who will decide if my heart is true or not."_

_The spirit let out a deep laugh. "The moon is young and very wary of any who profess their love to him. so when the first man to gaze at the moon was bought up here he asked us to set a challenge for the man and any others who claimed to feel the same way. we all love the moon spirit, he has a good soul and so we have been testing men for many years now."_

"_And has anyone passed this test?" the man knew it was a stupid question to ask but he had to be sure._

_the spirit shook his head. "no, everyone before you has failed, for they loved only his beauty and not the rest of him."_

"_What is the challenge?" _

_The spirit of darkness smiled again. "as I told you before I have taken the moon spirit, your task is simply to find him." with that the spirit disappeared but the darkness remained, blinding the man to everything around him._

_This did not dissuade him however and he set off ins search of his love, the man walked for what seemed like an eternity before spotting a faint glow in the distance. setting off at a run the young man reached the glow quickly. there stood in front of him, smiling happily was the moon spirit._

"_You have found me." he cried with joy, throwing his arms around the man and leaning up to give him a kiss._

_The man however stepped away. "You are not the moon spirit."_

_A deep hurt entered the spirits eyes. "but of course I am, look at me"_

_The man sighed. "I am looking at you, and although you are a good mimic of looks, no one can mimic the moons nature."_

"_What do you mean."_

"_The moon is beautiful in the flesh yes, but he is even more beautiful on the inside."_

_The spirit was beginning to smile. "go on."_

_The man smiled, his head tilted upwards as though he was back on Earth moon gazing. " The moon is gentle and shy, that is why he prefers the seclusion of night, so he would never change his opinion of someone so easily or act so brashly. and yet he is very trusting which is why he shies so brightly, however he would never give kiss away so easily, you have to earn his love, and a test a simple as being able to find him within the darkness could never be enough to prove to him how strong your love is, only..."_

_The man paused and looked over at the spirit who was grinning from ear to ear and realization finally dawned on him. "this was never the test was it, finding you was never the true test, seeing that you are not who you say you are was the true test."_

"_Bravo, young man, well done. you are the first to have passed our little test." the spirit of darkness clapped as he dissipated his eclipse, and the young man could see the real moon spirit standing alongside him. _

"_so who are you?" the man asked the fake spirit, who smiled in return._

"_I am the trickster, you did very well human." with that the trickster disappeared._

_The moon stepped forward, a timid smile on his face. the man also stepped forward but made no move to touch the spirit just incase he was still unsure. "please finish what you were about to say."_

_The man thought for a moment, before smiling and taking the spirits hand. "only a love for you and not just your beauty is a love worthy of a creature as remarkable as you, my sweet moon." _

_The spirit gave a gentle laugh before resting his head against the mans chest and wrapping his arms around his shoulders. "I hoped, for the first time in my life, I hoped that you would complete the task, and now i am sure that this is what love feels like._

_You can see them still, on clear nights, if you look to the sky. the moon spirit and his lover, their love glowing brighter than any star._

_the end_

Gaara closed the book with a snap, a look of determination on his face. If the guy in this book could do it the so could he (it never occurred to him that this was a fairytale). The red head stood up and began to scour the school for Neji.

As luck would have it the brunette had a free period at that point and was sat alone in one of the art rooms absently painting. Gaara knew he was an artist and cursed himself for not thinking of going to the art block first. Just as he was about to enter, the teen froze, what the hell was he going to say? was he just going to go in, give Neji his book back and profess his love right then and there? no it had to be something subtle but what? Gaara slapped the book against his forehead for over thinking the situation, just act natural, say the first thing that comes into your head. The red head almost laughed, this was going to end in disaster.

Taking a deep breath he walked in, throwing the door open with such force that it caused the younger teen to almost fall off of his stool in surprise. Gaara who had been staring at the door as if it had betrayed him turned around to find Neji staring at him with that look that people give when someones made them jump out of their skin. "um, sorry." the red head gave an apologetic laugh before holding up the book. "I think this belongs to you."

Neji raised a delicate eyebrow before taking the book with a small 'thank you'. Gaara bit his lip and began to walk out of the classroom, having completely lost his nerve, when a voice, a smooth a silk stopped him. "You left your english lesson just to give this back to me?"

"I didn't go to my...hang on." The red head spun round to see a brightly blushing neji, the brunette had obviously realized his slip up too. "how do you know that I have english now?"

"well, i-i..."

Gaara smiled gently. "It's okay, i've been watching you too."

Neji's head shot up, "W-what! I h-haven't..."

a contented chuckle came from the older teen causing the younger to look at him furiously. "Like I said, it's okay, it's only natural for someone to want to continually watch the one he loves, is it not?" he said gesturing to the book.

Neji glanced at it before looking up his eyes widening, as the red head had pretty much legged it.

Gaara paused outside of the classroom, leaning on a banister for support as the realization of what he had just done finally hit him. He looked up as a timid voice sounded from behind him.

"Gaara?"

He turned around to find Neji stood with a very red but a very determined look on his face. "Did you mean it?"

"Mean what?"

Neji glared and took a step closer. "Did you mean it?"

Gaara grinned and also took a step forward, they were now mere inches apart. "course I meant it." Neji looked suddenly lost for words, his face still retaining that adorable pink hue, that the red head decided was one of the best colours in the world. "I also mean this." with that the older teen lifted Neji's chin up and placed a gentle kiss on his lips.

When the broke apart, both were smiling euphorically. "Wait until i tell everyone that the school badass has a soft side." Neji laughed happily.

**hope you liked it :)**


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